Seven Basic Quality Management Tools

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Seven Basic Quality tools documents

Definition of Quality Management -- it is a method for ensuring that all the activities necessary to design, develop and implement a
product or service are effective and efficient with respect to the system and its performance. It is also a principle set by the company
to endure the continuous advocacy of quality services and products, or the further improvement of it.

Welcome to QT-charts knowledge base section.
Hopefully you will find some of them useful in your work. (Read articles below to learn more.)

The Five-Phase Lean Approach

Companies today continually strive to
eliminate waste in order to maintain a competitive edge. In order to remain
competitive, organizations must adopt principles and concepts that will help
them operate more efficiently. As many
companies face increasing pressure to drive down prices they become more open
to new ways of thinking, such as the five-phase lean approach.

Tool/Concept Defined

So what is lean? “At a high level it is a way
of giving people at all levels of an organization the skills and a shared means
of thinking to systematically drive out waste by designing better ways of
working, improving connections and easing flows within supply chains.” (Wood)
By eliminating waste companies can simultaneously reduce costs, make better use
of resources and deliver better customer value. (Wood) The five-phase lean
approach is one approach that allows companies to overcome obstacles such as,
proper integration and communication involved in becoming lean. This approach
builds the principles of lean which are customer defines value, eliminate
waste, customer establishes pull, involve and empower people who add value, and
the total cost is the ultimate performance metric. The five-phase lean approach
is a systems approach that allows each phase of implementation to build on each
other. The different phases of implementation are as follows: stability
and flexibility, continuous flow, synchronous production, pull systems, and
level production.

Stability and Flexibility

Building
a lean system can be disastrous if the systems don’t allow for stability and
flexibility. “Systems must handle the changes involved in lean manufacturing
and the instability that occurs as change takes place.” (Allen) All companies
are unique and require a certain strategic fit for successful implementation.
It’s important to understand that problems will arise and changes will need to
be made in order for the system to function correctly. Don’t overreact or rush
processes just because a problem arises. This doesn’t mean that the lean
approach is a complete failure. It’s important to realize that lean is not a
collection of tools but a way of thinking across your company. (Flinchbaugh)
Companies must be open to new ideas and ways of solving complex problems. Problem
solving techniques such as the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) can help determine any
sort of deviation from the standard.

Continuous Flow

A balanced production line requires improvements
and ongoing observation to eliminate waste and examine connections and flows.
Continuous flow requires products to flow from workplace to workplace. (Wood) If
product isn’t flowing the way it should then customers aren’t getting what they
need. Document the way the process is done, and use
that standard to eliminate variation in the process or how the operator does
the job.” (John Allen) McDonalds, for example, has a very detailed operations manual
that consists of several hundred pages and weighs about four pounds. (Schlosser)
Detailed documentation of processes allows companies to standardize production
and synchronize employee workstations. A clear view of processes helps
eliminate wastes and identify areas where bottlenecks might occur.

Synchronous Production

Synchronous
production occurs when the rate of production equals the rate that satisfies
the customer.(Allen) The rate is called the takt time.
The takt time can be defined as the maximum time allowed to
produce a product in order to meet demand. (Wikipedia) If products aren’t continually flowing then
the takt time will be at an unacceptable level. Standardized production will
allow for acceptable takt time rates and appropriate measures to complete
production on time.

Pull Systems

Pull
systems pull products from one workstation to the next. (Allen) Pull systems
are unique in the fact that they require seamless coordination among different
workstations. Each workstation can’t complete the desired task unless the
previous workstation performed their intended duty. Unfinished work creates
waste and an increase in takt times. John Allen suggests, “Structure your line
or conveyor process so that it will stop if the unit is not accepted in the
next workstation. If the conveyor does not stop when a part fails to move on, work-in-process
accumulates or operators struggle to produce more than one unit in the
established takt time.” If systems aren’t flexible, then product will back up
and customers won’t receive product.

Level Production

Level
production means all products must be leveled into the production sequence on
the basis of volume, mix, and sequence. (Allen) Replacement parts should be
made in small volumes in order to level out the production. The purpose of this
is to level production of the highest volume units and have long-term
objectives built into the others. Smaller component parts can be made
periodically at times that don’t disrupt higher volume items. This shows how
the lean phases can accommodate unique situations and adapt to changing issues.
Frequent tests of these tools should match against underlying principles of
lean. Commitment to the implementation of lean and development of a long-term
strategy are essential to the five-phase lean approach.

An Example Where the Tool/Concept is Used

A
company that manufactured merchandising equipment in the Midwest had a huge
spike in demand. The welding process was one of the major processes that were
slowing production at the plant. Managers decided to implement lean into the
process where the base of the equipment was welded together. The company needed
immediate results so they moved to the flow and pull phases of implementation.

The company had processes and workstations all over the
place. In between each workstation, material was moving by forklift which was
very inefficient. In order to pull things together they hired another group
leader; eliminated a scheduler in one line; moved unneeded people to other
departments; gave one operator two jobs; moved component materials closer to
workstations; and established new systems to allow product to move freely. “In
five months, subassembly inventory decreased 61%, manpower was reduced 9%, and
ROI was 281%. (Allen) Since product was continually flowing through the system,
inventories decreased and takt time decreased.However, since the first two phases of flexibility and stability were
ignored, preventative maintenance was almost non-existent, employees weren’t
properly trained, and eliminating errors wasn’t a primary focus. Companies must
follow all the steps of the five-phase lean approach to achieve maximum
results. Skipping phases opens the doors for small mistakes that will become
major problems in the future. Every company is unique and must form the five
phases of lean to adapt their strategic fit.